Yesterday was something of a harassing day one way and another and left me questioning what on earth has happened to professional integrity and customer service. What seems to be apparent is that they just don't figure any longer with any degree of importance in the worlds of corporate and economic gain!
I've split this into two posts, this and the one below.
After much research I eventually found a dentist yesterday that is taking on new NHS patients, so despite my fears I called them having been told by my doctor that I have to get the abscess situation sorted out properly. The conversation that ensued I find pretty concerning!
I was informed by the receptionist that before I can be considered for acceptance onto the dentists list I have to have a dental x-ray performed! Yes, I said 'before'. I queried why this was and the reply was somewhat vague and confusing I have to say. She seemed (I say seemed because she was so vague it was hard to decipher any real meaning in the conversation) to be suggesting that if the x-ray indicates I need much work I won't be accepted! Now forgive me here if you are a dentist reading this but it smacks yet again to me of dentistry in this country no longer being about care or integrity but being about making the buck! I know we all have to make a living and I appreciate many of the issues dentists have had over recent years with the government but at some point I wonder if they could stop in-fighting and consider us, the patient stuck in the middle!
But I digress. I questioned the receptionist further as to what I could do should I be denied treatment and was told I could visit the local emergency dental access service. I told her I had tried that but they could only deal with the initial presenting problem, i.e. prescribe more antibiotics in this case and along with my doctor had said I must have the underlying dental issue treated properly by a dentist!
Her response was that "I would be ok with more tablets"! I pointed out again that was contrary to all other information I had been given and that even those of us not medically qualified are now only too well aware of the problems of resistance in the over prescribing of antibiotics. I was met with silence...which I suggest says it all!
So, let me get this straight. The dental and medical professions say I have to have this dental problem dealt with by a dentist properly. The doctor says I can't have more antibiotics I have to see a dentist. The one dentist I can find wants to take the very odd step of x-raying before they accept me with a view to not accepting me if I need much treatment and has referred me to the emergency access center..... and the emergency centre tells me I have to see a dentist!
Where does that leave me....up the bloody dental creek without a paddle is where it leaves me and still with an underlying problem that isn't going to just fix itself! The doctor won't (and rightly) just keep prescribing willy-nilly, the access centre can't help and the dental profession is yet again sitting in it's ivory tower while our teeth rot and we suffer the pain.
I am so f*cking angry and fed up with all this.! I've had this hassle with dental treatment now for over six years on and off and it is part (though to be fair not all) of the reason I am now likely to lose my teeth before time. Come on guys, we are a nation who were lucky enough to have the education and facilities to have healthy teeth, this is not a third world country and it would be kinda cool if you could all start showing some integrity and stop trying to turn it into one dentally!
I've had enough now of the excuses and of understanding how hard done by our dental professionals are, we all have to live within the constraints our laws and governments decisions inflict on us but we don't all have the power to inflict continuing pain and discomfort on the poor sods caught in the middle! Where's the pride, integrity or professionalism in that?
If dentists still have an issue with their 'terms and conditions' take it up with those who impose those terms by all means but stop using the likes of me as a bargaining chip because it's unfair, inappropriate and does absolutely nothing to help the cause...which I have to say, when all this began years ago I supported.
I don't any longer.
Just sort it out and start behaving with at least some degree of care and integrity please!
Oh...was that naive of me? Sorry.
Friday, 15 August 2008
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6 Comments:
never understood the NHS dental system (if there is such a thing!).
I know I had an x-ray when I joined the practice I am currently with but that was to provide them with a baseline. And, as you probably know, your dental records don't travel with you so each dentist has to learn your teeth from scratch as it were!
belleek
I sympathise! I'm lucky as I've been with the same dental practice for over forty years. They dropped out of the NHS system some years back because of excessive paperwork and slow payment. They kept all their NHS patients and charge NHS prices.
They and their patients are all happy.
I know of several people who have had the same problems as yourself. It really is a ludicrous, and unacceptable, situation.
Have a good weekend! xx
Jane,
That's why many of us in the colonies are a bit twitchy about folks who want to install a NHS here.
Abscesses need to be tended to quickly, or they cause more problems. I had to have a bone graft because of a faulty root canal. I hope you get it resolved soon.
Oh, and it sucks that the desk clerk out front is dispensing medical advice. I might have been tempted to ask her where she received her medical degree.
While I will be first on the bandwagon here in the States for far better health coverage for all, it is exactly this kind of nonsense that makes me leery of having a truly nationalized health service. While the closest thing we have to this is Medicare, which actually works well on the whole, it still scares me that the type of NHS nightmare you described would happen here.
I don't even want to think how it would affect me with my myriad of health issues.
Why don't you come here:
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/dentistry/
Won't really help but I was in same dental condition as you. Dear old Borders General dental A&E checked things out and gave me antibiotics for the abscess and a date for removal of ruins at BGH. £4.25 for the session.
If they can do it, why not everyone? Have you checked what you are being told and how you are being (mis)treated with the local NHS trust. There is some sort of Patient Concern pressure group - can they advise where to insert rocket prior to lighting blue touch paper?
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